With paper picking devices there exists a critical normal force relationship between the pick roller and the paper stack. Too much normal force will result in multi-feeds and too little normal force will result in fails to feed. In conventional devices either the paper stack or the pick roll is spring loaded against the other to provide normal force for picking. Even with extensive tuning of this force the result is usually a very narrow range of media that will run reliably. These systems are vulnerable to a couple of media characteristics: Density or net weight, and stiffness. When the paper stack is spring loaded, density or net weight of the media can vary the resultant normal force. When the pick roller is spring loaded against the paper, the problem of counterbalancing the paper weight is eliminated but the media stiffness is still a problem. Presently, the common way to deal with these problems is through a force adjustment mechanism that requires operator intervention when switching from media to media. U.S. Pat. No. 3,306,491 to Eisner et al shows a driver roller on a pivoted gear train as is true for this invention, but without mention of auto compensation. U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,686 to Ono et al shows a drive roller on a pivoted arm, but not with auto compensation from a gear train.